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Season 2 Episode 5 Nov 9, 2016

Eating Ramen

This week we hear from comedian, writer, and so much more, Jonah Ray.
And from the great band CSS. We talk astrology,
E! entertainment news, and weigh the benefits of becoming a realtor
versus pursuing your dreams. Or at least versus not becoming a realtor.

As you've become accustomed to, this episode is hosted, produced, and
executive produced by Sub Pop Podcast hosts / producers / executive
producers Alissa Atkins and Arwen Nicks. From the murder closet.

Show Notes

This week’s interviews with Jonah Ray and
CSS were recorded in Los Angeles a
when Arwen and Alissa were there for
MaxFunCon. On that trip, Arwen (in her
third decade on Earth) attended live comedy for the first time
ever—twice! She “discovered” Ali Wong
(recently profiled in the New Yorker,
btw)
and Eric
Andre
(who may have been profiled somewhere recently, but not, as far as I can
remember, in the New Yorker). (I highly suggest tapping on that Eric
Andre link.)

Much was learned and everyone came home to Seattle wiser and just a
little bit more optimistic.

Guest #1

Jonah Ray

First up on the show (after much lively banter from our hosts) is the
tousle-haired comedian/writer/podcast co-host Jonah Ray. Thank you to
wikipedia and the concept of
“public domain” for the above photopic.

We already talked about Jonah Ray a bit on episode
three in the context of Hutch Harris
appearing in an episode of Jonah Ray’s “TV” show Hidden
America
that was (partly) filmed at the Sub Pop offices. Since episode three,
this photographic evidence of the two of them being at Sub Pop World HQ
has surfaced:

Jonah Ray and Hutch Harris invade Sub Pop

Behind Jonah and Hutch are many of the photobooth photos from our old
photobooth (RIP).

And don’t forget the (twice) aforementioned Hidden
America,
which I still have not gotten a chance to watch but is apparently a
spoof of the “travel show” genre. A spoof where people die.

Oh, and he has his own podcast, the punningly named Jonah
Raydio which, if I
understand correctly, is a casual little podcast about music.

When Jonah Ray said he used to be some kind of producer for things like
“E!’s 50 Most Insane Celebrity Oops,” I thought he was just talking
about the type of thing he was doing, not that that was a real E!
show (is E! still around?). Well, 0.04 seconds of googling on Youtube
tells me there really was such a show. All I could find was Jeff Dye’s
(a comedian, I think?) sizzle reel, but it’s enough to prove that the
show is real!

The almost-last thing I want to say about Jonah Ray is about the music
he licensed through Sub Pop for Hidden America. AND I want to point
out that the music on this episode of The Sub Pop Podcast is comprised
of some of Jonah’s picks for Hidden America. Before I could even do
googling about that, I went to Jonah’s (seemingly somewhat infrequently
updated, but who can blame the guy—he’s busy!) blog, and THIS is what
I was greeted with:

Sub Pop, right there in your
face!
On that page you can read a loooong list of songs used in season one of
H.A., all licensed through Sub Pop’s award winning licensing
department. Pretty cooooool.

And remember, eating crow, eating ramen, and
eating #CAKE are as
different from each other as night, day, and the ocean.

Selling pause

This week’s Mega Mart “ad”… where to even start? It’s no joke being
thrice attacked by an owl, let me tell you. I did tell you! But, as
pointed out, a Sub Pop dome
piece
can’t hurt if you’re being attacked by an owl (I don’t think it can
hurt… I’m neither a doctor nor a lawyer nor a zoologist). There are
so many hats there, let me make some suggestions. If it’s winter, go
for:

Guest(s) #2

CSS have a long-ish history, and have put out many
records, with two of their
full lengths being on Sub Pop: Cansei De Ser
Sexy and
Donkey (in addition
to many 12” singles). To this day I play Donkey on a regular basis.
I could listen to it all day long (and I have). Even the cover is
great—the donkey head on the cover is an original piece of art by…
Lovefoxxx? By one of the memebers, anyway.

Donkey cover.

The story is that “CSS” stands for “Cansei de Ser Sexy,” which is a
translation into Portuguese of a quote attributed to Beyoncé: “I got
tired of being sexy.” I am not saying that I disbelieve this nugget,
but the only evidence that I could find (in 0.8 seconds of googling) was
on CSS’s own wikipedia page.
That said, I do believe it.

CSS got some of their initial “buzz” from having their song “Music Is
My Hot Hot Sex” featured
in an iPod Touch commercial. Do you remember what an iPod Touch is?

That ad is from 2007. In 2006 the very same song was used by
Microsoft in an ad for the defunct-since-2012 iPod competitor, the Zune
music player. Brilliant. (I can’t
find video of the Zune ad online. If you can, email
podcast@subpop.com!)

I think the last time CSS visited the Sub Pop office was in 2013, at
which point they made one of my two favorite graffiti on our wall:

(For the record, my other favorite is Ryan Rapsys’s “signature” from the
10 seconds he drummed for King
Tuff. Hi Ryan!)

CSS have a sort of odd Youtube
page with four videos on it,
including one of Carol combing Lovefoxxx’s hair with a fork!

In conclusion / bonus section

As I sit here typing this, two things are happening. First, I wish I
were standing, not sitting. Second, it’s election day in the United
States of America. In honor of point #2, and in honor of member of
Clipping (guests on Season
2, Episode 2) Daveed Diggs
appearing on Jimmy Fallon’s show again, let’s watch Daveed and Tariq
Trotter, a/k/a Black Thought
trade some lines about the election.

Not quite the last bonus content in this week’s notes, but let’s get a
taste of extra John
Atkins’s art from this
episode.

Next week on the show, in episode SIX, we’ll be in LA again, this time
talking to Jimmy Tamborello of The Postal
Service and
Dntel. Then back up to Seattle
to hear from The Postal Service’s Ben Gibbard (also, of course, of
Death Cab for Cutie). Alissa and Arwen
gave us some bonus beats
of Ben’s interview where they talk about Chastity
Belt. (In fact, this
same ground was covered from the opposite (complementary?) angle in
season one episode nine.)

Anyway, as a bonus to that bonus, Arwen wanted me to post evidence of
Julia’s shrine to Ben…